[_Statement by Faranda_]
My lord the emperor Conbacondo [1] sends me as his ambassador to your
Excellency, as the representative of King Philippe, to ask that we
maintain hereafter the peaceful relations required by the close bond of
true friendship and fraternity, for which reason I, in the name of my
lord the emperor Conbacondo and as his ambassador, ask his Majesty King
Philippe and your Excellency to accept and receive that friendship,
as my lord the emperor desires. The letter brought by Gaspar, my
vassal, was in order to ascertain whether your Excellency and the
other Spaniards were friends or foes, and not, as had been imagined or
understood here, that you should become vassals of my lord the emperor,
and render him obedience and submission. Having learned the truth,
my lord the emperor sent this embassy, ordering me to put on the
garment which I am wearing, which means friendship and fraternity;
for if we had come for war, as was thought, my garments would have
been different, and I would have come in a different manner. It would
have greatly pleased me if it had been possible for father Fray Juan
Cobos to come, to present the sword which, as a token of friendship and
true brotherhood was given to him to be presented to your Excellency;
and to describe the kind reception accorded to him there and the love
shown to him, so that I might have been more cordially received by
your Excellency. Your Excellency, not being acquainted with the many
things said in this city concerning my visit, is very kind to receive
me in this manner, not knowing even who I am, which could have been
explained by father Fray Juan Cobos if he had come.
Will your Excellency be pleased to order that a reply be given to me
as soon as possible, that I may go away and take the other Xaponese
who are here, because it is time to do so, and because the Xaponese
who have come heretofore from Xapon are not of the higher classes,
but are very low. Your Excellency should decide whether you do not wish
them to go, as people of this sort are a shame to the kingdom of Xapon;
and, in case provisions or anything else are required from my country,
I will send them with merchants duly registered. For that purpose I ask
your Excellency to give me a seal, and I will leave here one of mine,
so that all our procedures may be uniform and harmonious; for it would
not be right to have the people from the kingdom of Xapon come here
to rob the land and occasion scandals, thus giving a bad name to our
country, and especially in a country with which we have established
close friendship and with whom we are at peace. I also ask that when
the emperor needs the Spaniards in the wars which he may wage, your
Excellency will bind yourself to send him reënforcements of men,
and he will do the same at any time when your Excellency shall see
fit to send to his kingdom of Xapon for soldiers.
Everything that I have asked from your Excellency herein is in the
name of my lord the emperor. Your Excellency has doubted my authority,
because I did not present letters from my lord the emperor. They
are in the possession of father Fray Juan Cobos and give me ample
authority to negotiate with your Excellency in regard to everything
required to establish peace and amity. I will wait until I reach my
emperor's presence and I will then send the agreements written by
his own hands, and signed with my name, as a proof of my veracity.
[_Authentication_]
We, the undersigned religious, state that the ambassador did sign
this memorial; and I, Fray Gonzalo Garcia, certify that everything
contained herein was dictated to me to be written for your Excellency
in the Spanish language by his order; and I as interpreter had it
written by one of the religious who here sign our names. Dated in
this city of Manila, the twenty-seventh of April, one thousand five
hundred and ninety-three.
_Fray Gonçalo Garcia_
_Fray Geronimo Vazquez_
_Fray Andres del Spiritu Santo_
[_Statement by Faranda_]
Last year, one thousand five hundred and ninety-two, Conbacondon,
the emperor of the realm of Xapon, commanded me to come to these
islands to negotiate for peace and amity with your Excellency and
the Spaniards residing here, your Excellency having agreed to it as
the representative here of his Majesty King Don Philipe. In order
to carry out my emperor's orders I went as far as the province of
Sanchuma, [2] to a seaport, whence I was to sail; but while making
preparations for my departure, I was attacked by sickness. Then, in
order not to lose the opportunity or to disobey said orders on account
of my illness, I decided to send in my place my vassal Gaspar, whom I
greatly esteem, believing that he would execute the commission well,
as he is a man experienced in all matters pertaining to these Islands,
having been in them before; and in consequence I sent him, giving
him the letter from the emperor my lord. He came and delivered it;
but, as there was no interpreter, it was not understood, and he was
discredited because of the little authority he had, as he was not an
ambassador. For that reason your Excellency decided to send father Fray
Juan Cobos and Captain Lope de Llano, who were to visit the kingdom
of Xapon and ascertain the truth concerning the embassy which my said
subject brought. When Fray Juan Cobos arrived in Satisma he wrote two
letters, one to the emperor, my lord, and another to me as the person
to whom the embassy sent to these islands had been entrusted. The said
two letters were tied together, and I received them in the town of
Mengoya, where the court of my lord the emperor is established. [3]
For the sake of courtesy, I did not separate mine, but took both
and delivered them to the emperor my lord, who read his and gave me
mine--ordering a captain and myself, one by land and the other by sea,
to go to meet father Fray Juan Cobos. We departed at once, I going by
sea; and I met him at Geto, a place between Firando and Mangasatte,
[4] where I received him with great pleasure, and brought him to the
court where my lord the emperor then was. Upon being notified of his
arrival, the emperor ordered one of his nobles to give him hospitality
in his own home, so that Father Juan Cobos could rest there until
a house could be adorned with gold, to shelter him with more pomp,
because he was the envoy of so great a governor and because he is a
father, and known to be a learned man, and that all his royal city
might see how grand a reception was accorded to him. Twenty-five
days afterward, when everything was ready to receive him, I sent six
hundred of the principal men, nobles and gentry, to convey him to the
emperor's presence, sending a beautifully decorated litter, on which
the father was carried on their shoulders. Everyone was amazed to see
such a reception, the like of which had never before been accorded to
any other ambassador, although many had come to my lord the emperor,
some to offer obedience, others to negotiate peace treaties. It was
because the emperor knew that the Spaniards are a warlike nation,
valiant and honored above all other people, that he gave them such
a reception; and so it was known over all the court.
My lord the emperor was inside the fortress, and when father Fray Juan
Cobos reached the palace he was bidden to enter the audience-chamber
where the emperor was waiting for him, and where he received him with
the greatest honor and show of affection ever shown to any man, seating
him next to himself. Father Fray Juan Cobos presented him with the
letter, which upon being read, showed how doubts had arisen regarding
the embassy sent by the emperor the year before. My lord the emperor
called me, and asked me why I had not fulfilled his orders--to which
I replied that I had gone to do so, but that, while at the seaport,
I had been taken sick; and in order not to miss sending his embassy,
I had entrusted it to one of my vassals, a Christian. Then my lord
the emperor ordered me to go with father Fray Juan Cobos to visit your
Excellency in his name, and to deliver my letters and try to establish
lasting relations of friendship and amity; and finally sent me away,
after having given me full instructions as to what I was to say and
do. To father Fray Juan Cobos my lord the emperor gave a sword of great
worth and value, as a token of friendship, for your Excellency; and a
letter, wherein it was written that we were to be friends and brothers.
Father Fray Juan Cobos and I departed for the port, but on arriving
there he would not embark on my vessel. So we set sail, he on his
vessel and I on mine. Upon leaving I told father Fray Juan Cobos that
it would be better to wait for the tide, and until the moon came out;
but he answered: "Your people do not know or understand the sea." I
am a pilot, and, seeing that the high tide was against us, I waited
until the moon arose; but the father would not wait, and so left,
and I have never since seen him. The advice I gave him before leaving
was so that the emperor my lord might not ask me why I had not advised
him, and so that the father himself might not have reason to complain
against me. I gave him two of my kinsmen to accompany him, since he
would not sail on my vessel. Before he left, I asked the father to
give me a letter for your Excellency, because the ocean was not safe;
and I asked also for some one who would come with me to these islands,
and who could tell who I was, and state the reasons why I came. He
gave me Antonio, a Christian Sangley. The said Antonio asked the
father for a letter to your Excellency, and he gave it to him; and
so we separated, in the manner above described.
I, Faranda Quiemon, ambassador of the emperor of the realms of
Xapon, state that the people of the said realms are heathen, but have
already begun to accept the gospel law, and wish to become Christians;
and if this desire and belief has not spread more, it is because of
the lack of ministers and priests. I know that my emperor desires
me to bring back some fathers, provided they are of the order of
St. Francis, because this is an order and habit new to him; and our
Lord Jesus Christ and he will be well pleased that I should do them
this service. If your Excellency will order this to be done, you will
confer a favor upon the said emperor and myself.
I beg your Excellency to favor me by commanding that ten fathers of
the above-mentioned Franciscan order be sent to accompany me from this
city to Xapon for the said object--the said ten fathers to be Fray
Pedro Baptista, Fray Vicente Vermeo, Fray Blas de la Madre de Dios,
Fray Juan Pobre, Fray Diego Portero, Father Gonzalez, Fray Francisco
Parilla, Fray Joseph, Fray Francisco Ribero, and Fray Andres (an
unsettled priest). Besides the fact that we shall all take as a favor
the service done our lord, I promise in the name of the emperor and
on his royal word that they shall be well received and well treated,
and that no harm shall be done them; and if they become unwilling
to stay, and are disinclined to do the work for which they have been
taken thither, I promise to send them back to this city as they came.
[_Letters from Fray Juan Cobos_]
The bearer of this is Faranda Quiemo, a Xaponese, who goes in a
new vessel, which has some red pictures painted on the poop. She
is a staunch ship, carrying one hundred and twenty men, Chinese and
Xaponese. It carries as a signal a red pennant at the stern. Given
at Cuxi, a port of Xapon, on October 29, 1592.
_Fray Juan Cobos_
[_Addressed_: "To Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, governor and captain-general
of the Filipinas Islands, at Manila."]
Because of the uncertainty of the ocean, I send this note by another
vessel which sails together with ours from this port, so that in
case it reaches your Excellency before us you will not be alarmed on
our account. Our trip has been very prosperous, and, should the Lord
preserve our health, we shall, as soon as we find ourselves in Manila,
report to your Excellency how well we were received by the emperor and
how well attended, thus honoring our lord the king, your Excellency,
and our nation. Nothing more at present, as I am writing these lines
only in case our ship should prove less speedy. From Xapon, province
of China, [5] port of Cuxi, November 4. Captain Lope Llanos kisses
your Excellency's hands; he is very ill with quartan ague.
_Fray Juan Cobos_
[_Addressed_: "To Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, knight of the Order of
Santiago, governor and captain-general of the Felipinas Islands."]
The bearer is Antonio Lopez, a Chinese, who sails on the vessel of
the Japanese Faranda as a token of peace, and to protect the vessel,
so that no harm may be done to it.
_Fray Juan Cobo_
May Jesus be always with your Excellency. It was found necessary that
Antonio Lopez, the Chinese, depart in the vessel of Faranda Quiemo,
who is the master of the Faranda who carries these letters and was
the source of all these messages. Although I leave the port in Xapon
before him, the fortunes of the ocean are various, and he may arrive
there first. Glory be to God that our voyage has been very prosperous,
as your Excellency will learn. As this letter is only intended as a
safe-conduct for its bearers (for which we are hostages), and as a
permit to Antonio Lopez, I say nothing more except that I recommend
your Excellency, in case he shall arrive before I do, to give them a
kind reception, because we were well received by the emperor. It is
worth while for your Excellency to send here for copper and hemp, on
the king's account, as I shall report to you at my arrival. Captain
Lope de Llanos kisses your Lordship's hands; he is very ill with
quartan ague. He is not writing, because this letter is intended only
for the purpose above mentioned. From the realm of Xapon, province
of Chaxuma, at the port of Cuxi, November 4, 1592.
_Fray Juan Cobo_
Addressed to Gomez Perez Dasmariñas, knight of the order of Santiago,
and governor and captain-general of the Filipinas Islands.
_Decree_
In the city of Manila, on the twenty-fourth day of the month of May,
one thousand five hundred and ninety-three, I, Gomez Perez Dasmariñas,
knight of the Order of Santiago, and captain-general of these islands,
declare in the name of the king, our lord, that whereas last year
some letters and an ambassador claiming to come from the king of
Xapon were received here, and, moved by suspicion and fearing war,
I sent the father Fray Juan Cobos with letters for the emperor;
and whereas it is over a year since the said father left here, and,
notwithstanding I have received letters from him meanwhile, making
known his safe arrival and the prompt execution of his mission, I
am anxious because he does not return; three Xaponese vessels having
arrived, and in one of them a man by the name of Faranda, a Xaponese
who claims to be the ambassador; and as I wish to be informed what
sort of a man this Faranda is, and to learn whether Father Cobos
arrived there and how he was received and sent away, and the purpose
that Faranda has in coming, and what are the intentions and objects of
the said emperor, and whatever else it is expedient to ask in order to
disperse and clear away the prevalent uncertainties, and know whether
we are to have safety and peace with that king: I hereby order that
the following investigation be made, the proceedings of which shall
be attached to the original letters sent by father Fray Juan Cobo
and to the memorial submitted by Faranda; and I sign it with my name.
_Gomez Perez Dasmariñas_